{"id":81,"date":"2012-06-28T22:46:40","date_gmt":"2012-06-28T22:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mareus.com\/?p=81"},"modified":"2012-10-15T22:57:20","modified_gmt":"2012-10-15T22:57:20","slug":"too-busy-for-time-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mareus.com\/index.php\/too-busy-for-time-management\/","title":{"rendered":"Too Busy for Time Management?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0 Time management is probably the wrong term really, as time doesn\u2019t change, but how we use our time, how we fill our days at work or at home, can definitely change, if we choose to make the effort.<\/p>\n

Whatever you call it\u2026 how we manage our day, and our \u201cthings to do\u201d has a very big impact on the lifestyle we live.<\/p>\n

Do you find you can get overwhelmed by all the little bits and pieces you would like to do, or think you should do, or someone else said you should do\u2026. and suddenly you feel like you will never get it all done\u2026 and what\u2019s the point? Or do you keep trying to do it all, which is grand until something cracks (health, patience, relationship, or you start making mistakes)?<\/p>\n

A lot of the time these bits and pieces are just distractions, or crutch activities, and they keep you away from achieving your main goals in life\u2026 e.g. more time with family, researching a new business venture, travelling the world, starting a hobby, improving your health and fitness\u2026 whatever floats your boat.<\/p>\n

In interviews when asked how they plan their working day, most candidates mention making a tick list of some sort just before they end their shift or on the morning of their next shift. Not a bad idea depending on how you put that tick list together.<\/p>\n

Completing a long tick list of little things to do can give a sense of achievement at the end of the day, but does it really make a difference if you create an audit list of all the various sized staples in the stationery room before you put in the next stationery order when the printer is running out of paper?<\/p>\n

Are you putting to much focus on feeling efficient rather than being effective in completing your work and chasing your goals?<\/p>\n

FOCUS\u2026<\/p>\n

Believe it or not your \u201cTo do list\u201d shouldn\u2019t really have more than one or two priority tasks on it each day, and these things should be the important things, actions that have a clear impact on what you are trying to achieve. Also, your \u201cto do list\u201d should be achievable in the day ahead\u2026 if it\u2019s not\u2026 you might feel overwhelmed and unsuccessful at the end of the day, or by the end of the week.<\/p>\n

ACTION\u2026<\/p>\n

Sit down this evening, and pick the few key actions you need to achieve tomorrow, the impact actions, the ones that will make a difference to you and your goals, and put that on your \u201cIMPACT LIST\u201d. Forget the rest for now (the fiddly bits, the things that are nice to do, but you haven\u2019t been asked to do), if they become important they can go on the shortened list in the future. Stick with the plan tomorrow\u2026<\/p>\n

Once you have your \u201cIMPACT LIST\u201d completed, stop working, finish on-time, go out and treat yourself how best you like\u2026 maybe a walk in the park, reading a book, a trip to the cinema, helping someone else out, whatever makes you happy! It\u2019s all about balance.<\/p>\n

In other words\u2026
\n\u201cThe Main Thing is to Keep The Main Thing The Main Thing\u201d
\n~ Stephen Covey<\/p>\n

If you are interested in reading more on increasing your effectiveness maybe check out one or both of the following two books\u2026 there are some great practical tips in them and they\u2019ve given me plenty to think about!<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe 4-Hour Work Week\u201d by Timothy Ferris and \u201cThe 7 Habits of Highly Effective People\u201d by Stephen R. Covey<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Time management is probably the wrong term really, as time doesn\u2019t change, but how we use our time, how we fill our days at work or at home, can definitely change, if we choose to make the effort. Whatever you call it\u2026 how we manage our day, and our \u201cthings to do\u201d has a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mareus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mareus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mareus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mareus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mareus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/mareus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84,"href":"http:\/\/mareus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions\/84"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mareus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mareus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mareus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}